Jeremy Miles: Well, the easiest thing in the world is to suggest that things are not ambitious enough, but it’s just not true. It’s just not true what the Member said. What’s your definition of ambition if not to recognise that these are the first WESPs since 2014 that are driven by a target calculated by the Government, not by the local authorities? So, if that isn’t a sign of ambition, and the...
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for the questions and for his support for the statement generally, and the questions are very valid. In terms of the location of the new schools, the 23 new Welsh-medium schools will be located in 15 local authorities, but they will stretch from Pembrokeshire to Merthyr to the Vale, so across Wales. And 10 local authorities are also focusing on moving current schools along...
Jeremy Miles: I’m delighted to tell you that all 22 of our local authorities have committed to their ambitious 10-year targets of increasing the provision of Welsh-medium education. These targets match the milestones of our Welsh language strategy, 'Cymraeg 2050: A million Welsh speakers'. Some local authorities have gone the extra mile and have set targets that exceed our expectations. We want 26 per...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. It's my pleasure to be here today to update Members on the Welsh in education strategic plans, namely the plans of our local authorities to grow Welsh-medium education over the next 10 years. As a result of new guidance and regulations for the WESPs, local authorities have prepared new, more ambitious plans that provide opportunities to more learners, including...
Jeremy Miles: Building on this, and working with Plaid Cymru as part of the co-operation agreement, from September of this year we start to roll out the universal primary free-school-meal offer. The biggest influences, Dirprwy Lywydd, on the success of learners are the quality of the learning and teaching they experience, and particularly, as John Griffiths was saying, for our younger learners, the...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. This is such an important debate, and I thank John Griffiths for bringing it forward and for the other contributions that we've heard. Challenging poverty and inequality is a central part of all our work as a Government and my work as a Minister, and education, as we've heard, is crucial to deliver that objective. We want to see high standards and high aspirations...
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for that question. The consortia and school improvement services have a very important role in the new curriculum, as she will know from the statement I made last week, supporting schools on their improvement journey, whatever that journey is, providing that service to schools, that service to governing bodies as they are accountable for their school's journey. That's...
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for those questions. She will know from my earlier answers that there's a significant amount of work under way in order to encourage pupils back to school. Some of that is around the funding of family engagement officers, but we are also looking at the recommendations that were made to us as a Government in the recent report that we've published by Meilyr Rowlands, some of...
Jeremy Miles: The Member knows that I have a complete commitment to ensure that every child in Wales has equitable access to Welsh-medium education and that all children who want Welsh-medium education can have that. That's very clear, and there's no doubt about that. In terms of specific issues about the choices that the council is making regarding the question that the Member asked, he knows that he...
Jeremy Miles: I thank Vikki Howells for drawing to my attention the fantastic work that Pontypridd High School is leading on in conjunction with other schools in the area and with the involvement of Public Health Wales and the broader community. I know my colleague the health Minister will be interested in hearing more about this development, which is a fantastic example of working between the education...
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for those questions. On the point about the response of the teaching workforce to the curriculum, I think it's one that she would recognise is one of excitement and commitment to the principles of the new curriculum, and the desire, together with all of us in this Chamber, to see it succeed, and that's been what's motivated the phenomenal hard work over many years of the...
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member and I thank her for the welcome that she gave for the statement, and I detect the enthusiasm that she has for the curriculum, despite the challenges that she sets for me. So, I welcome that commitment to the new curriculum, which she clearly has. In relation to the points that she raised, they fall into a number of categories: one was in relation to the availability of...
Jeremy Miles: Last week, I published the first annual report on the Curriculum for Wales, to provide Members with an update, setting out the overall picture of the current position of roll-out of reform, the Welsh Government's efforts to support roll-out, and looking forward to the next steps for reform. The report makes important findings about where we are currently, including that funded non-maintained...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. After several years in the making, we're on the verge of a momentous change to education as pupils begin to learn under our new Curriculum for Wales. Made with the profession in Wales for Wales, the new curriculum will begin to be taught from next term. All primary schools and almost half of our secondary schools will introduce the Curriculum for Wales in September,...
Jeremy Miles: May I just say, in conclusion, Llywydd, 'thank you' to Sioned Williams and Laura Anne Jones for their co-operation as the Bill travelled through the Senedd? It's been good to work with them on a number of constructive amendments, and also to have agreement from two parties in terms of the strategic duties for the sector in future. It's important, in bringing forward amendments or changes that...
Jeremy Miles: Certainly.
Jeremy Miles: Well, the Member will recall the assurance I gave to the Chamber at Stage 3. The Bill, as he knows, includes provision for institutional autonomy, and I gave the commitment then, which I'm happy to repeat, that those powers could only ever be used in exceptional circumstances. As I previously said, Llywydd, this change is long overdue, and I intend to maintain momentum and progress with the...
Jeremy Miles: The Bill we have before us today has been strengthened as a result of stakeholder input, Senedd scrutiny and effective cross-party working. I hope Members will feel that it represents our common vision for the future of tertiary education. The recommendations and comments from committees, particularly CYPE under the leadership of Jayne Bryant, helped me identify areas where the Bill could be...
Jeremy Miles: Thank you to everyone who worked with us in the spirit of partnership to deliver this important Bill.
Jeremy Miles: This Bill, for the first time in Welsh legislation, brings together responsibility for overseeing Wales's higher and further education, school sixth forms, apprenticeships and research and innovation in one place, and places the values and vision that we have for post-16 education on a firm statutory footing. Whilst one of the main effects of the Bill is the creation of Wales's first ever...
